Posts tagged Catholic church

Greetings, readers!

I and Muetti just came back from our weekend in Fort Lauderdale – and had a great time there! One of the highlights of the sojourn was the Mass at St. Anthony’s Catholic Church, and as I stated in my Musicouch article, “Why I Prefer Pipe to Electric and Digital Organs,” Filipino tradition holds true that we should make three wishes upon attending Mass at an unvisited church. For me, the principal one is for the happy repose of Senator Ted Kennedy (with his funeral and interment occurring a day prior to the day we had that noontime Mass there), and the other two correlate with the newest arts project going on at that time: the EM Skinner Pipe Organ Project.

You see, these two wishes, alongside the other one I allotted for Kennedy’s respite of his soul with all the angels and saints, are closely the same as what I wished for once I set foot inside the Cathedral-Basilica of St. Augustine further north. Having read the pages of the site about the project, that made me wish to return to the church a few months after installation and to find a lucrative job (high-paying, if you’re wondering) to fund the project. So why do I wish to be rich as I enter that new church? As stated in the web page of the reasons why the project is ongoing, it’s one of the most prominent churches in the Archdiocese on Miami and Broward County’s mother church, and Red Masses are held there annually. What’s more, the Protestant churches (Baptist, Methodist, and Presbyterian) have higher-quality music because thanks to their pipe organs, especially the Ruffatti one at the Coral Ridge church of the latter denomination. So I dug my heels, dressed in my top and jeans, navigated through confusing byways from the resort town of Weston (where Muetti and I stayed), and entered the church for the Mass with a feared-to-be-cruddy digital organ.

The 60-year-old church was spacious, although not as cavernous as St. Larry’s Basilica in Asheville, NC, but bigger than Blessed Sacrament in Harrisonburg, VA. The exterior is a daffodil yellow, gilded with gold and white and green marble, with the latter adorning and structuring the altar and pulpit. Stained glass windows flanked the church, with the rose window on the rear wall. Captivated, I snapped the picture of the altar, and looked over my shoulder to see a man in a blue shirt (he kinda looks like my social networking pal James McConnel from the early 90’s) seating himself on the wood-carved organ console. Mom and I thought about departing from the church, but we stayed for the Mass nevertheless.To find out the liturgical music played at that Mass, here’s my listing with descriptions (It doesn’t matter if you hate it as a Catholic who wants only Palestrina, Gregorian chant, and all the pre-OCP stuff in church – I respect your opinions!):

Prelude by anon
Once seated, the prelude started, with the organ sounds inundating the church. The church’s web site claimed on the whys of the pipe organ project that it was reaching its twilight years, but it sounded too cinematic, almost Bose-like, to be cruddy as I feared. Perhaps the organ was too good to be an Allen – more like a top-shelf Rodgers. After the announcements, the cantor – a brunette Hispanic mezzo with a white top, a rather short and tutu-like gray skirt, and high heels – announced the processional hymn.

Processional Hymn: “All Creatures of Our God And King” by William H. Draper, based on St. Francis’s Canticle of the Sun, tune Laesst Uns Enfreuen from Auss­er­le­se­ne Ca­thol­ische Geist­liche Kirch­en­ge­saeng (cantor, the congregants, and organ)
Instead of the written D major, we sang this a whole tone lower, but the feel of the hymn had stabilized even on a short vacation. I tried hard to temper my funny bones because it’s so reminiscent of the Episcopalian Sunday service sketch from the very first episode of Mr. Bean, when the titular character fumbled over the words because his fellow worshiper did not share his hymnal and started singing the “Alleluias” boisterously during those parts!

Kyrie from Celtic Mass by Christopher Walker
Ah, the early days of attending Mass at my home parish – before childhood memories abounded with Haugen’s Mass of Creation, now a quarter-of-a-century old!

Gloria by anon (cantor, the congregants, and organ)
I don’t know who penned it, but it sounded excellent!

Responsorial Psalm 15 and Gospel Acclamation by Owen Alstott
No description necessary.

Offertory hymn: “O God, You Search Me” by Bernardette Farrell (cantor, the congregants, and organ)
Here comes the Farrell stuff – Catholics who want pre-Haugen/Haas crud beware!

Credo from Celtic Mass by Christopher Walker (cantor, the congregants, and organ)
Wooh-hooh – I’m beginning to like this Mass setting as much as the aforementioned Mass of Creation (dodges flames)!

Memorial Acclamation B from Celtic Mass by Christopher Walker (cantor, the congregants, and organ)
The same principle holds true here!

Doxology from Celtic Mass by Christopher Walker (cantor, the congregants, and organ)
I can’t get enough of that music!

Pater Noster from Celtic Mass by Christopher Walker (cantor, the congregants, and organ)
This is one of my favorite sung settings of the Lord’s Prayer, next to that from the Mass of Creation.

Agnus Dei from Celtic Mass by Christopher Walker (cantor, the congregants, and organ)
Compared to other Mass settings, this one is more genteel and flowing, but I give a cautionary to Catholics who don’t want Walker and his ilk in the parishes.

Communion Hymn: “I Received the Living God” by Richard Proulx, with music by Don Clement Jacob (cantor and organ)
I regarded the rendition of the hymn as one of the best, with the digital organ plucking its virtual harp during the verses and the chimes playing at the end! Wow – it takes me back to my childhood days of having Mass at St. Philip the Apostle’s in NJ!

Sending Forth Hymn: “God of Our Fathers” by Daniel C. Roberts, with the tune “National Hymn” by George W. Warren
What a germane way to conclude this Mass – it was a fitting tribute to the late Senator Kennedy indeed! That reflected my principal wish of the three so well!

This is my listing of the music from the Mass I attended once in St. Anthony’s of Fort Lauderdale, and again, I wish to be wealthy to fund the organ project and to return to the church to hear the organ once the consultants implant it in the edifice.